


A Dance Under A Snow Moon

by shinjiru



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, M/M, So Marco is kinda depressed, and he's also a deity, then Ace became one too because that implies happily ever after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22638904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinjiru/pseuds/shinjiru
Summary: They meet once every hundred years under a snow moon.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 114





	A Dance Under A Snow Moon

**Author's Note:**

> So I should probably stop doing this at 4 am.
> 
> This piece was because I saw Bandaipresto's World Journey vol. 5 figures the other day and I couldn't believe they had the nerves to hit me with a Johnlock themed Marco and Ace. And so I felt the need to write something to hurt our favorite pirate boys while hurting myself in the process too.
> 
> Enjoy!

It was a beautiful night. The streets were white with the thick layer of snow and the moon was so, so bright. Blindingly bright.

Marco leaned against a wall, sliding down to settle himself on the cold snow. He had been wandering for a long time, longer than he cared to count but still did anyways. It had been exactly six hundred and forty five years since he had left that island, the last island under the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates. When he had turned forty, he had noticed something. He was immortal. Marco couldn’t die and it wasn’t just because of his devil fruit. No. Turned out he became kind of a deity, having bathed in the phoenix's fire for far too many times. He was immortal and he was to never grow old. And so he had wandered.

As he focused on dwelling in his self-hatred, a voice reached out to him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

And it was exactly the one he had been waiting for.

He turned to his left to look at a dark mop of hair and eyes so dark he felt like they contained the whole universe. They held _Marco's_ universe.

_Ace._

Every time _this_ happened. His eyes stung from the tears threatening to fall uncontrollably, but he smiled instead.

“Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit tired. Isn’t it a bit late for a kid to be out here?” Marco questioned, his smile got warmer at the scowl on Ace's face.

“I'm not a kid. I'm already twenty.” His scowl deepened when he saw Marco's smiled turned into a lighthearted chuckle. “Where'd you come from anyway? And what happened to you? You look like shit.”

The older man tilted his head, thinking through what he had been doing up to this point. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t care much about… well, pretty much everything.

“I was walking home, then I stopped to watch the moon. It’s a snow moon. Beautiful, isn’t it? Ah, I look like shit because I feel like shit. I haven’t slept since… Tuesday.” He said, looking back at the moon. It was truly beautiful.

Ace felt his eyes widened.

“How are you even functioning right now? Who goes three days without sleep and still be awake to fucking _moon-watching?”_ The young man was near shouting at this point and Marco could felt his head splitting.

“Language.” He chided habitually.

“Sorry. Wait, what are you, my mom? Why am I standing here talking to a stranger in the middle of the night anyway? But- Damn it. Mom said I can’t ignore those in need of help, and you look like you’re needing help. So. I'm helping you. Where do you live?”

Marco just stared as Ace ranted on with his hands flailing all over. God he had missed this. He smiled, trying not to let his negative emotions come through.

“I live quite far away from here. About half an hour drive.”

Ace scowled at the distance given. Why was he still here again?

“That’s way too far and I don’t think there’s any cabs running at this hour. Plus I am not gonna piggyback you home just because you look like you wouldn’t last a minute of walking. Well, you could come to my place and crash for the night. You don’t look like you gonna rob me or something. Do you?” Ace, realizing a bit too late he probably shouldn’t have invited a stranger to his house in the middle of the night, squinted his eyes carefully as he finished talking.

Marco chuckled, shaking his head as he stood up and dusted himself off. And of course his trousers would be wet. Snow sucked.

“You shouldn’t invite strangers to your house. I’ll go find a 24/7 store. Good night, young man.” _Good night, Ace._

Ace wasn’t going to let a sleep deprived, exhausted man walk out on his watch. Plus the man looked like if he was to fall facedown on the snow he would just lay there and sleep. Then suffocated and died. He stopped the stranger by holding onto his forearm. The muscles there didn’t worry him as much when he looked at the dark rings under those lazy eyes. Or the dead eyes of someone who hadn’t slept for three days.

“You don’t look like you can walk properly, let alone attacking me. Just come to my place. Come on.”

Marco hummed as he was dragged along.

_You shouldn’t do this._

Of course he knew.

_You’re only hurting yourself._

But was it worth it? The pain.

…

_It was._

* * *

Turned out Ace lived only a couple minutes away, in an apartment right around the corner.

Marco did a quick scan around the place. It looked warm. Lived in. But there were signs that Ace wasn’t living alone.

Noticing his maybe not so subtle observance, Ace scratched his head.

“Ah, I live with my brothers, but Luffy's at his friend's and Sabo's on a trip.”

Luffy and Sabo. Fate had its way around, didn’t it? Everything would almost always the same, the same people forming the same groups. Marco was the only one removed from their lives and memories. Pops was the only one who would always remember. Just as he had promised almost seven hundred years ago that he would always be there for Marco.

“Luffy and Sabo, huh? So what’s your name? Mine's Marco, by the way. Edward Marco.” Marco asked, taking off his now too wet coat to throw it on the hanger.

“Oh shit, yes, sorry, I'm Ace. Gol D. Ace.” The young man sheepishly said, scratching his head.

_It was always the same. The only one that’s never there is you._

Yes.

“Well, nice to meet you, Ace. Thanks for letting me stay over.” He smiled warmly.

_You have to leave comes morning._

Of course.

“Nice to meet you. Well, you can take my room and I can sleep in Sabo's. I, um, haven’t cleaned my room yet so if you want I can-” Marco just silently watched Ace frantically moving around. Everything was always the same. He had to cut Ace off before the man choke on his own spit.

“It’s fine, Ace. I'm grateful that you let me stay. I'm sure your room isn’t too messy.” He said as he follow Ace to his room. God how he wish this had been in some other circumstances and that they hadn’t been strangers.

And he might have spoken too soon. When Ace said a mess, he meant **_a mess_**.

“See, not that bad.” Marco said, holding back a chuckle at Ace's lobster-red face.

“It’s normally not _this_ bad. Let me just tidy up a bit and then you can crash.”

Marco hummed as Ace went about picking up his clothes and… other things. He wanted to help but Ace glared at him just as he about to pick up a shirt. Or what looked like one. So he opted to lean against the door to watch instead. A familiar fire burnt his stomach as he observed the way those muscles moved.

_You can’t_.

He knew that.

_He will hurt_.

**He** wouldn’t.

_You will_.

What did it matter?

“There, all done. You can sleep now, Marco.” Ace wiped the sweat on his forehead and flashed a blinding smile at Marco.

In that very moment, Marco could felt his heart being shattered and put together all at once. His soul wept.

“Thanks. Well, I won’t keep you up any longer. Goodnight, Ace.”

His voice was calm. He had been doing this for six hundred years. He could do this now.

Ace nodded and turned his back to the bed as Marco settle in. He said a quiet ‘Goodnight’ before closing the door. Marco's smile felt.

_How long can you keep this up?_

Maybe just this one time.

_Or another thousand years?_

Maybe.

Just when he started to fall asleep, he heard the door creaked open and a tall figure appeared. He opened his eyes to look at a obviously embarrassed Ace.

“Um, I can’t sleep. I know you’re tired and all but like, can you tell me a story or something?” The man asked in a timid voice and Marco gave a small laugh, moving to the side to give space. The bed wasn’t that small, it could comfortably fit two.

“You sure you’re not a kid?” Marco teased as Ace lied down next to him and was rewarded with a blush on speckled cheeks.

“S-Shut up. It’s a habit. Luffy always talks my ears off before bed.”

Marco smiled.

_You’re hurting._

But it was worth this. The warmth. The heat. Ace.

“A story, huh? Ah, I got just the one.” He looked up at the ceiling, feeling a shift from his right side as Ace turned to face him.

“There was a time when pirates were roaming seas and continents. There were so many of them that that period of time was named the Age of Pirates. In this age, there was a great pirate called Whitebeard. He wasn’t the Pirate King but he was the greatest of them all. He had the treasure he spent all his life searching for, his family. He called his crewmates his sons. The youngest of them all was the one called Fire Fist. You see, there were people with special powers, granted to them by a mysterious fruit. This man, as his name suggested, held the power of fire. He was… brilliant. He had lived a checkered life but he had died with a smile. He was the Flame Emperor. He held the fire of the Sun in his hands and he held the soul of a phoenix in his heart and so when he died, the phoenix lived on with an empty soul. Every hundred years, they would be reunited but only for one night on a snow moon. There weren’t any rules, but-”

He cut himself off when he noticed the soft breaths. Marco sat up, looking at the sleeping man with so much love and longing it was starting to suffocate him. His fingers gingerly brushed over Ace's cheek.

“And so the story of the Flame Emperor and the phoenix goes on. Goodnight, Ace. Until next time.”

* * *

Marco just silently looked outside the window until the first light of dawn broke in.

_It’s time_.

Just a little bit more.

_You have to go._

Just-

_Now!_

Smiling sadly, Marco left the bed. With a final careful look at Ace, Marco whispered his goodbye and flew through the window. Until next time.

* * *

Ace woke up crying. Silent tears turned in to loud weeping in a matter of seconds. He had fell asleep to the sound of Marco's voice and he woke up to the empty bed the man had left.

In his dream, he was a pirate named Ace. He was the son of the greatest pirate of them all. He was a brother to the most magnificent crew. And he was the lover to the most brilliant blue flame. He was the Flame Emperor and Marco was his phoenix.

“Marco. Marco. Marco. I'm sorry. How could I just forget you like that? I- God. I'm so sorry.”

Ace cried uncontrollably until he realized there was a fire burning in his gut. A literal fire.

_You are free now. Live on, Flame Emperor._

A mysterious voice and a familiar heat. Well, that didn’t explain anything but just to test his theory out, he focus on his forefinger and, _of course it would_ , the tip of the finger turned into a flickering flame.

He didn’t have the time to dwell on this as he realized once more that Marco was gone. He was gone and- And Ace had the means to find him. No one can live in this society, immortal or not, without a registered ID.

“Damn it, Marco. I'm not letting you get away this time.”

Somewhere in the same city, a blond man felt his soul filled up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I love yall.  
> Also this is based loosely on Hare Hare Ya, a beautiful song by Hanyuu Maigo. Go listen to it.


End file.
